XBiz took a moment to catch up with IMPA founders Greg Clayman of Video Secrets and Spike Goldberg of Homegrown Video for an update on the organization that was formed in February of this year to support the online adult industry confront the numerous issues threatening its very foundation.
According to Goldberg, there has been some confusion that IMPA was formed as a defense organization for the group of companies that are taking a stand against Acacia, a misconception that sprouted up during the time that Acacia began making itself an increasingly unwelcome presence within industry circles.
Goldberg and Clayman were careful to distinguish between IMPA's mission statement and the fact that several of its founding board members are also among the counter-litigants challenging Acacia's patents.
"We originally founded IMPA to address numerous concerns that the adult community was having including Visa/Mastercard chargebacks, spamming, politics in general, and patent litigation," Clayman told XBiz. "We formed IMPA as an organization that could come up with governing rules, ideas and concepts that are ethical, and set a standard for our industry before the U.S. Government does it for us."
"This industry is starting to mature and just like any industry that is growing, it is going to have issues that need to be addressed, that's really the bottom line of why we got this thing together," Clayman continued.
In addition to the precedent that will be set by the outcome of the Acacia lawsuit for all other patent holders who lay claim to fundamental functions that affect online businesses, the organizers of IMPA feel that it is imperative that the industry as a whole take a stand, and take it now.
"Acacia is just the opening of Pandora's Box," Goldberg told XBiz. "If we're not pooling our resources and our efforts, it ain't going Ashcroft that brings us down, it's going to someone else."
Clayman pressed the point that while IMPA is relatively new, compared to the Free Speech Coalition and other groups, it is maintained by people who all run their own adult companies, and that despite the amount of stride and momentum IMPA has going right now, the fight with Acacia has taken up a good portion of board members' personal time.
Clayman added that he is hopeful IMPA will serve as a platform for adult webmasters and companies to form a political group that is powerful enough to be heard in Washington.
"We are very confident, and for good reason, that the Internet is one of the best places to experience adult entertainment," Clayman told XBiz. "It isn't going anywhere, and based on that, this regime better have a group together to make sure we stay ethical and that we do everything we can to set out some basic guidelines to run by. We're like a train right now that is gaining momentum, and the power of the Internet and its lobbying power is completely untapped at the moment."
As for those webmasters wondering where IMPA has been during the Acacia battle, Goldberg responded by saying: "We're not sitting here trying to bilk anybody out of anything. I have lofty goals for this organization and we can't miss this bus, otherwise we will be preyed upon left and right. Acacia did a great thing for the industry, it gave us all a reason to find a common ground. We don't want to be a whipping boy. We want to be treated like a business."
Goldberg continued by saying that the bulk of the donations given to IMPA have come from the smaller webmasters, whereas most of the larger adult entertainment companies have "turned a blind eye."
Webmaster donations received so far are being banked to fund future IMPA endeavors when it comes to defending the rights of the adult entertainment industry.
"IMPA is about grouping us together as a force so that the next time another Acacia comes around, you will see the IMPA take a greater role in getting involved and helping out," said Goldberg.
Among IMPA's board members are AEBN, Video Secrets, Homegrown, Holio, Matrix, Lightspeed, Falcon Studies, Top Bucks, ARS, Gamelink, and many others. IMPA's membership is also growing and will soon include some major mainstream companies interested in supporting the kind of industry unity IMPA is aiming for.
IMPA will hold its next board meeting sometime next week. Goldberg and Clayman will both be appearing on 'The Lowdown On Patents' panel at Internext in January 2004.
The next Acacia hearing with adult entertainment counter-litigants will be held in a Santa Ana courtroom on Feb. 6, 2004.
